PRO BASKETBALL

PRO BASKETBALL; Victory Eludes Knicks; Post-Season May, Too

By SELENA ROBERTS

Published: April 20, 1999

PHILADELPHIA, April 19—
The two of them, Patrick Ewing and Larry Johnson, were standing on corroded legs tonight as they took their places on opposite sides of the free-throw lane.

At the critical moment, neither could move swiftly enough to grab a missed free throw by the 76ers' Theo Ratliff that went bounding off the rim with 21.8 seconds remaining. The ball went off Ewing's hand and careered past Johnson.

And in a game that played out in the same painful fashion as so many others this year for the Knicks -- like trying to catch a dollar bill swirling through the air -- they came up empty each time they tried to snare this one. The Knicks blew two chances to tie the score in the last 23 seconds, when a runner by Ewing missed badly and an awkward 3-pointer by Allan Houston bounced off the rim and over the backboard with 4.4 seconds left.

Just another edition of fourth-quarter follies from the Knicks, who lost their fourth straight game, a brutal 72-67 decision to the 76ers at First Union Center. The defeat left the Knicks with an unthinkable .500 record, at 21-21, and tied with Toronto (20-20) and Charlotte (20-20) in ninth place, one spot out of the playoffs. Instead of moving into seventh place with a victory, the Knicks continue to plunge toward the abyss as they finished the fourth quarter with eight turnovers and a 5-for-10 effort from the free-throw line.

The site is different, the outcome is the same for a Knicks team that cannot unearth one big play when it counts in the end. And it's starting to add up on the Knicks' tattered psyche.

''Sometimes, I look out there and we have this dazed look in our eyes,'' Chris Childs said. ''It's like we can't get it done.''

It's nearly impossible when the Knicks, who made up an 8-point deficit in the fourth quarter to tie it at 67-67 with 1 minute 35 seconds left, miss their last three shots. It's hard when Houston, who shrank into the background, scores all 12 of his points in the first half, and when a hobbling Ewing shoots 3 for 8 and scores 11 points.

''I've hit that shot my whole career,'' Ewing said of his missed jumper that would have tied the score with 23 seconds left. ''That's my patented shot.''

But nothing is the way it used to be for the Knicks. They used to be the intimidators, and yet they seemed to shake at the sight of Ratliff, whose five blocks made Marcus Camby (0 for 6) and Ewing think twice inside the paint. And the Knicks used to be the ones who hit the floor for loose balls and banged inside for rebounds. But all the nerve belonged to the 76ers.

''Guy misses a free throw, but I didn't come up with the ball,'' Johnson said of Ratliff's missed free throw that was controlled by Aaron McKie. ''To have a guy beat you to the ball, that's pure hustle.''

And plays like that are unnerving the Knicks. They seem to fear a tight game, not embrace it. The Knicks haven't uncovered a game-winning shot since late February, when Houston knocked down a jumper to seal an overtime victory against the Timberwolves. This is the same player who took just four shots in the second half.

''I don't have an idea what happened,'' said Houston, who was 4 for 13. ''I don't want to say I wasn't as assertive, but driving into four people, that's not me.''

That's more like Latrell Sprewell. At times, he was, as usual, electric. But he danced his way right into four turnovers, including two in the final six minutes. Childs came unglued right along with him, with three turnovers in the fourth quarter.

''I take the blame for this loss,'' said Childs, who was 1 for 4 with 5 turnovers. ''I let everyone down. I didn't get the job done in the end.

''I don't know if it's that we lack confidence or if we're just unsure of what we need to do. You have to go all out. You only compound things by not being aggressive.''

The 76ers were the aggressors for most of the night. This time they would not be the pushovers they had been twice before at the hands of the Knicks this season. As Allen Iverson goes, the 76ers go. And on this night, neither Childs nor Charlie Ward could stop him from shimmying and shaking his way to 20 points. As sly as Iverson was, Matt Geiger stopped and popped over Kurt Thomas and Ewing for 22 points.

In the end, the Knicks' defense did clamp down, but there was something missing: a big play. For the third straight game, it was the same fourth-quarter story.

''It's been a strange season for us,'' Ewing said. ''We're not where we think we should be.''

They are a .500 team. And not even they can believe it.

REBOUNDS

MARCUS CAMBY is 0 for 11 in his last two games. . . . The Knicks have three days off before they play Charlotte at Madison Square Garden on Friday.

Photo: Marcus Camby's dunk attempt was rejected by the 76ers' Matt Geiger. Goaltending was not called on the play. (Associated Press)(pg. D4)